This invention relates to an electrical switching device; more particularly it relates to an electro-optical switching device that has as its principal function controlling an electrical circuit. There exist a great many types of switching devices and further discussion would be prohibitively extensive and to a large extent immaterial.
The device according to the present invention is a miniature, highly reliable and rather moisture resistant device adaptable to many uses but designed as an operator activated switch placed upon an operator manipulated handpiece for controlling operation of the handpiece. More specifically, it is designed for use on a surgical handpiece for actuation by the surgeon as desired. Hence, it is desirably reliable, small and impervious to fluids. The device utilizes as a basis of operation, a light responsive solid state element activated by a light source with a means for blocking off the light emanating from the light source to activate the light responsive element.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a novel switching device; it is another object of the present invention to provide a miniature operator-actuated switching device;
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a highly reliable electrical switching device;
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a switching device impervious to fluids.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the descriptions of the drawing and preferred embodiments which follow.